Midnight Oil
by Bandit-sama
Summary: Plans to build the Turbokat stared out as sketches on paper, and later flew through the sky like a bird and it came from the paws of two single kats but it took many nights to get there...many sleepless, coffee riddled nights and humid, food deprived days
1. Round the Clock

I don't own Swat Kats or any of its characters.

Wow, I haven't been in this fandom in _awhile_ and I've missed it so much! Anyways, I want you all to know that the chapters will be extremely short (when compared to my usual ten) only around three to four pages each chapter. I want to see how I do writing for these two before I do something large. I don't know how many chapter this will have, but it's been fun writing so far. Enjoy!

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'_Round the Clock:_

"Ow!"

Jake dropped his pencil and gripped his right wrist with his left paw. He rubbed the tender area, wincing the entire time. A hiss of pain filled the air, escaping from clenched teeth. Another cramp in his wrist dammit! Perhaps it was time to take a break…

Sighing, Jake rested on his elbows and looked down at the blueprints set out in front of him. Even as the blueprints Jake knew that putting the Turbokat together was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done. Sure there were parts of old F-15's laying around, as well as parts for helicopters, cars, and everything else a kat could want but he had to rebuild things, add custom made parts, and hope that someone threw away something important that would only add to the brilliance of the Turbokat. It would take a lot of luck, which they seemed to be down on lately what with crashing into the Enforcer building and all.

"How are you doin'?"

The ginger colored kat perked at the sound of Chance's voice and looked towards the doorway. The lighter kat stood in the doorway, a smile on his face and a cup of steaming coffee in his hands.

"I figured that the last thing you needed was hot milk," Chance said as he entered the office. He placed the blue mug down on the desk a great way away from the blueprints, that accident had already come to pass _once_, and took a sip of his own.

"Yeah…" Jake lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks."

Chance inched forward a bit, craning his neck to get a look at the blueprints. "Anything new?"

Jake shook his head. "No, nothing other then notes. Chance…I don't know if we can—"

"We can do _anything_, Jake," Chance replied with a comforting smile coming over his features. "Besides we gotta show Feral who really owns the skies around here!"

His best friend's humor, however, didn't seem to phase the down and out kat. Jake closed his eyes and kept his head low. There were just so many other things to think about besides building a jet; they had to work as mechanics both for their debt to Feral and for themselves. They had to eat after all, and pay for utilities. Things weren't going to be easy for a while, and constructing a jet was at the very bottom of Jake's to-do-list.

As Jake's thoughts dove deeper and deeper into despair, a hearty smack to the back brought him back to reality. Chance clapped his paw against Jake's back once more and moved away with a smile still on his face.

"Aw come on, Jake! Lighten up a bit!" Sighing, Chance walked away and flopped down on the couch behind Jake, his arms outstretched along the back of the couch. "Look, I know things are going to be hard around here for a while but you and I have been through worse. This idea…it'll pay off in the end."

"Yeah…" Jake turned the chair around to face his best friend and slumped against his office chair. "I keep telling myself that but…"

"But?"

"There's just so much to do!" He gripped his blue jumpsuit between his claws. "Parts to find, physics to figure out, and tests to run. Where is it going to fit in with repairing cars and scraping together enough money to eat?"

"Hey," Chance chuckled, "what else do we have to do?"

Those words ran through Jake's head and like a spark in the dark, set things off. Jake snapped out of his daze and glanced over at the larger tom that still had a cocky smile on his face. Such a simple sentence, a sentence that when said on a lazy afternoon would have meant nothing but now, at three in the morning meant the world. There was so much hiding underneath the simple sentence, but it fit Chance so well.

Chance leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "We joined the Enforcers in the first place to protect the city, right?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah."

"So let's protect it! We can't leave it up to Feral! He just kicked the two of us out, imagine what he's done to others!"

"I doubt there have been others that have disobeyed orders and crashed a plane into the Enforcer's HQ," Jake said with a sideways look. "But I get what you're saying, Chance."

"You know as well as I do that the bad guys of Megakat City are growing stronger and stronger with very attack, and Feral's having trouble keeping them at bay _now_. Let's build us a jet and take to the skies! With your imagination and sharp shooting and _my_ flying abilities we'll kick tail!"

Jake sat still, allowing himself to absorb the words that Chance had just spoken but unlike before his mind blanked and he couldn't think of any kind of argument. Frustrated, the smaller kat grabbed his coffee and took one last glance at the blueprints lying on his wooden desk that Bluke and Murray had left behind.

"You know Chance…" Jake stood and walked over to a nearby window. He moved the blinds a bit and saw a dark night sky for miles over mountains of trash. "When you say it like that, I believe you."

xXx

Five in the morning.

It didn't feel like five A.M. to the young tom, in fact it felt as if his day had just begun even though he had been up for two days straight working on the blueprints. His hard work had paid off, the basic outline for the Turbokat had been completed but he knew that the outline would change many times so much of the jet depended on what he could find in the salvage yard.

Jake had left his confides of the office and walked into the salvage yard, his third cup of coffee in his paw. He watched as the sun rose from the horizon, the sky hundreds of different tints and hues that he had never seen imitated in a painting. The many shades of pink and orange created colors that he couldn't imagine stuck within a tube of paint, it just wouldn't be fair to capture such a color.

The sun inched upwards, and as the top half of it came over the horizon the salvage yard lit up. The many pieces of metal threw off bright lights, some of which reminded Jake of the sun on a hot day: scorching, and intense. A gentle wind blew, and he could hear the moans and groans of the metal as the day's heat warmed them from their cold sleep.

Somewhere, out there, amongst the junk, was a jet.

And Jake was going to find it, no matter what it took.

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R&R please!


	2. Moving

Thanks to **Vitalini, ulyferal, Cody Furlong, Sage SK,** and **Kristen Shrape **for reviewing! I'm so very sorry this took so long to get out, but life has been really getting to me.

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"A little bit more, Jake!" Chance called out as he wiggled the throttle between his legs. "It's still a bit loose!"

"Gotcha!"

Chance relaxed back into the pilot's seat Jake had found out in the salvage yard. It was perfect for the large tom's build, unlike the first two seats he had tired out (one which had gone to Jake). This one seemed to mold to his body and that helped to keep him still during hard maneuvers…whenever they were going to do them.

"Try it now!" Jake's voice echoed through the empty hanger.

He wrapped his paws around the throttle and moved it in every direction he could think of, and the new tension held up perfectly, never faulting. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Chance hopped out of the cockpit and down near Jake.

"It works great buddy!" Chance declared with a proud smirk on his face. "Man, I can't wait to get this bird flyin'!"

Chance took a step back and looked over the Turbokat, or rather what they had built of it. Most of the skeleton had been put together in the four months of sleepless nights, coffee runs and twenty minute lunch breaks, and whenever Chance looked at it he found himself thinking that it resembled a bird's skeleton. An engine sat not too far away from the front half of the featherless bird, Jake still had to work his butt off on that, and at the current moment they were busy constructing the many wires and connections that connected the dashboard to the engine. It was a good thing Jake had such a knack for science and wiring things together, there was no way Chance would be able to get all of this out of the way without messing something up. He could fly and do the grunt work, but figuring out the math in physics and science…that was where he faltered.

Together Jake and Chance had found millions of things that they could use on the _first day_ of scavenging and things had just taken off from there. It was just jaw dropping how many things had been scattered around the junkyard, it was just a shame that Bluke and Murry had never really kept records of anything that came in and our. Chance never would have thought that the Turbokat would look like _this_ in just four months, but then again he never would have thought that if he needed a back thruster all he would have to do was walk out to his backyard.

Life had never proved more interesting.

"Yeah well it's gonna be awhile," Jake said as he came out from underneath the hood of the Turbokat. "We still haven't gotten the thrusters up yet and we've got to find something for landing gear. Hopefully we can find some that hasn't been through Mega War II."

"Hopefully." Chance placed his fists on his hips and eyed the Turbokat once more. A swell of pride built up in his chest, and he took in a deep breath to defeat it, but it remained when his lungs filled.

His dreams were finally coming to pass.

xXx

"Aw crud!"

Chance straightened his back and rose out from underneath the hood of an Enforcer car. He rubbed his sore right paw, he had been holding a wrench for far too long but the Enforcer patrol cards _had_ to be finished before morning, before Feral came to pick them up. Usually it wouldn't be such a big problem, but Jake wasn't around to help, leaving Chance to repair all _five_ cars on his own.

Sighing, the tom ran his claws through his hair as he lifted his baseball cap off of his head. He groaned when he felt something wet on the top of his head where he had just touched and looked down at his grease covered paw. Great. Now he would have to take a shower.

If there was any water.

He groaned at the thought; since moving to the salvage yard and starting the Turbokat project, money had been hard to come by. They weren't getting paid for their work on Enforcer cars no that went to the debt they owed the city for crashing into Enforcer HQ and their business hadn't really taken off in Megakat City.

_Just a few more weeks._

Yes a few more weeks. Things had been hard since they had moved, with the lack of money there were bills that went unpaid, and one of them included the water bill. The electricity was their number one priority, without it they wouldn't be able to work on the Turbokat or cars for that matter. No cable, however, so Chance had to go without seeing episodes of Scary Kat for now.

Trips into Megakat City were rare, thanks to the price of gas, but when he did go Chance made sure to get word out about the salvage yard and the new management. Thanks to a friend he had managed to get a few flyers done and whenever he got into public places he made sure to tack them up. But it had been a week since then, and they had gotten a few cars and calls for tows which allowed them to purchase groceries; they could go without cable but not food.

Sighing, Chance tossed his wrench down on the ground and leaned against the car. His stomach growled a bit, but he ignored it for the time being; dinner was their one and only big meal and he would have to hold off until then. Chance had no qualms with waiting, after all he had grown up in a house with five brothers and sisters, plus relatives that liked to drop by and live at the house for a few weeks. He hadn't grown up poor per say, he had just lived in a house where his parents had to stretch a dollar a bit. It was a just irritating that he hadn't really picked up on his mother's cooking skills while he had the chance, TV dinners were too expensive, but they were stuck eating whatever the other made, no matter how burnt or over salted it was.

_Things will work out…we've worked too hard for them not too._

With a slight groan, Chance returned his attention to the Enforcer car and grabbed his wrench off of the ground. Things weren't going to get done if he just sat around thinking about things, and Chance intended to get things done. With events from the previous day filling his head, he smirked and continued his work with more enthusiasm then he had before.

There hadn't been a dull moment around the salvage yard since the cable had gone out. Without TV the two had bonded over accidents in the kitchen and they often swapped stories about their days in the Enforcers. When they weren't working on cars, they were busy down in the hanger, talking and laughing as they repaired broken items.

Chance was starting to think that even if he and Jake didn't complete the jet they would come out as better friends for it and, deep down in his heart of hearts, Chance couldn't ask for anything more. Jake was a great guy, and the larger tom counted his blessings every night he fell asleep, and thanked his stars when he woke up the next morning and found Jake in the kitchen, making breakfast.

Furlong had always been a lucky kat, but he thought it had all gone down the drain when he and Jake had gotten booted from the Enforcers, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

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R&R please!


	3. Heat

Thank you to **Furlong 19, Cody Furlong, ulyferal, Sage SK, Ghostkid33, PutMoneyInThePurse, Etherweil,** and **boojum** to for reviewing!

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_It is way too hot to be stuck in the hanger._

Jake dragged a washcloth over his head, cleaning the fur there from oil. Fans hummed away all around the underground hanger, each one on high and pumping around air as fast as it could. Chance had set up the fans when he had been down just a few hours ago, back when the early morning hadn't produced _that_ much heat. Now, on the other hand, Jake was stuck down in the hanger while the afternoon sun baked everything on the ground. One would think the hanger would be the coolest room in the salvage yard but working on a _jet_ proved its own heat.

Between dashing at the metal skeleton of the Turbokat and the blueprints which sat on a desk on the far side of the room, Jake created his own heat that only amplified the crankiness resting deep within him. A few nights without sleep wasn't something the tom hadn't been through before, there had been plenty of nights while training to become an Enforcer that dealt that same exact deck of cards but they were _nothing_ like this. Everything _hurt_, his _brain_ hurt. No matter how much he tried to figure out a new problem, his brain just wouldn't start and his plans ended in frustration.

"_Just take a break."_

"But I can't," Jake responded aloud to the memory of what Chance had said days before. It was true, even when he did manage to crawl into bed after a long day of work he couldn't shut his mind off. Hundreds of details, and questions would swirl around in his head and when he closed his eyes he could see himself perfecting the blueprints he had left in the hanger. Coffee seemed like the only cure and that was starting to run low.

Sighing, Jake stood up straight and cracked his back. With a groan his paws clenched his lower back as a burning pain shot up from there to his brain. But the minute his paws touched his lower back, a pain came to his paws.

Jake lowered his head. _This just isn't working out._

The worst thing was that there wasn't anyone he could complain to. Back in the day there were a ton of other Enforcer members to talk to, each one with a different experience and funny stories to tell but here the only other kat to speak to was Chance. There wasn't a problem with it per say, it would just be nice to address someone else about such a crisis besides someone who was smack in the middle of it with him.

_I think the heat is getting to me. _

The dark tom tossed his tools down on the ground and climbed out of the hanger. A cooling breeze ran over him the minute he fully entered the living room, cooling any humid air caught in his fur.

"Hey buddy, you feelin' alright?"

Looking up from the floor, he saw Chance standing in the kitchen with a square box in his hands. "Yeah," Jake answered as he closed the hatch to the hanger. "Just a little overheated, that's all."

A grin came over the larger tom's face. "Well I've got something that might put a smile on your face! I just finished a group of cars for a few local friends and I thought I'd splurge on a pizza!"

"Anchovies and peppers?"

Chance lifted the box a bit and winked. "Nothin' else!"

"…Thanks, Chance."

"No prob!"

So what if he didn't have anyone else to talk to, it didn't matter. Chance could make him feel better in a matter of seconds, and that was one hundred times better then ranting and raving to someone else.

How was it that Chance had such an effect on him? Since the day they had met in high school the yellow tom had managed to put a smile on his face and a jump in his step. There had been many times in the past the Chance had made his day, and usually it was just with a few simple words. Simple words said at _just the right time_ that lifted Jake up and made him whole. He could only hope that he did the same for his best friend; that was one thing Jake wanted to do more then anything. He wanted to make Chance's day just as he had made his, but Chance never really said anything about being low…he always seemed so happy.

_Chance… _Jake followed his friend into the kitchen, his smile hiding his deep thoughts. _I know we can get through this and save the world…I just need you to believe in me as much as I believe in you._

xXx

The ex-Enforcer dropped down on his bed, his stomach full and his body begging for sleep. He released a slight groan and smiled as he remembered the pizza eating contest with Chance, and even though he had tired hard he had lost to the larger tom. After eating they exchanged more stories rather then daring to see if by any chance the cable worked, and Jake was just fine with that.

Chucking, Jake rolled over onto his side and glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall above his dresser; 3:23 A.M, just about time to get up and return to working on the Turbokat; now with the weather cooling down, the hanger wouldn't be too hot for the tom to tolerate. With a heavy sigh, he rolled out of bed, stretched and looked out of a nearby window.

Darkness covered the sky, a thick layer of clouds preventing Jake from seeing any stars or even the moon for that matter. Was a storm coming? The newspaper hadn't said anything about it, and he couldn't check the local news. What kind of story came up after such an intense heat wave?

He shook his head at the thought, he had much better things to worry and thank about. He straightened out his jumpsuit and left his bedroom with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth; it would be much easier to work in the hanger when the heat had disappeared, which meant that _more_ would get done.

_Wonderful. _

Jake allowed his smile to come forward.

_I can't wait for the Turbokat to be finished…and to start saving the world._

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R&R please!


	4. The Store

Thanks to **gaypheonix, Ghostkid33, Mr Khan, ulyferal**, and** Cody Furlong, **for reviewing! I'm sory this took so long, thanks for sticking around this long guys.

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"That'll be one-hundred and thirty-five dollars, sir," the friendly she-kat said with a smile crossing her features.

Chance's jaw dropped at the mention of the price, his heart sinking low to the pit of his stomach. How could groceries cost so much? How did other low income kats do this with kittens at home? Sighing, Chance rummaged through his pocket and brought out his tattered wallet.

"I think I'll have to put a few items away," Chance said as he glanced at the small amount of food waiting to be bagged. The groceries wouldn't last long unless he and Jake went a few days on snacks alone.

"That's fine, sir."

The cashier she-kat nodded her head and began picking out the items that had wracked up such a high bill. Chance picked out the few that he figured he and Jake could go without and paid the new bill of one-hundred dollars even. With his items bagged, Chance left the family owned corner store and walked over to his car. A cooling breeze ran over him the minute he stepped out into the night, one that chilled the sweat that remained stuck in his undercoat.

The day had been rather tough, Jake had taken a break from working on the Turbokat to assemble as assault course that would keep the both of them on their toes and in shape. Chance doubted that he needed training to keep his waistline down, if money didn't start coming in soon his waist would shrink from the lack of food in the fridge, not a good thing for a kat doing his best to keep his muscular build.

But running an assault course in ninety degree weather?

Yeah, that was Chance's first clue that Jake was working too hard. Jake had always been that way, however, and it was something Chance had come to expect by now but there were days when the larger tom could definitely tell that his partner's late night coffee only diet was getting to him. Not only was his best friend losing weight, he wasn't sleeping or catching up on his sleep which made him crankier then usual and the hot weather wasn't making his attitude any better. But Chance really couldn't blame him, as much as he attempted to do the work, Jake _did_ most of the paperwork, math, and such things that Chance just didn't understand.

Turning a corner, the yellow furred kat approached his beaten-down towing truck and removed the keys from his pocket. He unlocked the passenger door and placed the bags down on the floor of the car; there wasn't much room for it, but there wasn't any other way to get the bags home. With the door closed he walked around the front of the tow truck and slipped into the driver's seat. Starting the car, a wave of warmth blew out from the car's vents.

_I have to get the radiator fixed…_

He slid over a bit and moved the frozen items away from the heater, the last thing he needed was a wet bag of soaked TV dinners. After moving the bags around a bit more, Chance returned to his sitting position and revved the tow truck. He pulled into traffic and dove down the dark streets, he rolled down his window and inhaled the cold air outside.

He knew these streets, he had grown up on the very street he drove on but back then he had to rely on his own to feet to get him around. Back in those days Chance would have given anything for a friend like Jake, and he really needed one too. Jake kept him in line and protected him at the same time, perhaps if Jake had come into his life earlier on Chance would have been able to get better grades in school.

_Nah, better not think of that now. _

Stupidity wasn't the tiger tom's problem, _boredom_ was. There were just so many other things to think about through high school, and Jake didn't come into his school until he was in the middle of his junior year and by then Chance was already up the creek without a paddle. Jake _had_ helped Chance finish his senior year, but if he had just shown up a bit earlier…

Sirens wailed, breaking Chance from his deep thought. He slowed his speed and looked around and found an Enforcer barricade blocking his path. A kat who looked slightly familiar directed Chance over to a traffic jam, insisting that it was much safer then using the freeway to get out of Megakat City.

"What's going on?" Chance glanced over his wheel but saw nothing but flashing lights and the backs of a few Enforcers.

"I'm not permitted to say so," the Enforcer answered in a monotone voice, "Now please move into the traffic."

Chance rolled his eyes; it was a saying that Enforcers were taught to say whenever they had no idea what was going on. He did as told and pulled up behind a large car that sat in front of a massive traffic jam. Strange, if he and Jake hadn't gotten kicked out of the Enforcers, perhaps _they_ would have been on the scene. _If_.

Shaking his head, Chance peered over his hood and saw a collection of twenty or more cars stretched out in front of him, each one blocking the exit to the far side of Megakat City. How much longer would he have to be here? If this traffic didn't clear up, the truck would overheat, not to mention the gas he would burn up by just _sitting there_.

With nothing left to do but bake in the overheating car, Chance turned off the engine and glanced over at his bag of groceries. Maybe if he placed the melting TV dinner in front of the heater it would cook…that didn't sound like such a bad idea. But how would it taste?

He crossed one arm over the other and leaned back against the beaten up driver's seat. Nah, he could wait to bring the TV dinners back to Jake so they could hang out together and talk while eating but it was comforting to know that he wouldn't starve to death while waiting for the traffic to clear.

Bored, the pilot glanced out of his window and saw a group of Enforcers speaking with one another while they awaited orders from their superiors. He shouldn't have been sitting in the car, wondering what to eat in case hunger struck him. No! He was supposed to be out there on the road, directing traffic right along side Jake.

And yet he wasn't.

_Why is this botherin' you, Chance? It happened a few months ago, let it go already. _

"Aw what the hell." Chance reached forward and dug through one of the brown bags until he found a bag of chips. He popped it open, took a large pawful of yellow chips, and forced them into his mouth. As he munched on the salty taste, he took one last look at the Enforcers and sighed.

He couldn't wait to feel like a super hero again.

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R&R please!


	5. The Course

Thank you to **Ghostkid33, Etherweil,** and **GeekGirl2** for reviewing! And an uber thanks to everyone who came over or recc'd me from _TvTrops_! I'm so happy! I swear I'm gong to update this more!

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"_I think we need an obstacle course."_

Jake's mouth dropped at the suggestion, and yet there he sat at the same table where he had drawn the plants for the Turbokat, sketching what they could do with the land they had. Why Chance wanted something else to build other then the bird waiting in the hanging the darker colored kat did not understand, but after thinking about it for a moment, it hit him.

Chance was a mechanic, that much was a well known fact, but mathematics and physics were never his best subjects (high school proved that). Chance needed something else to do between fixing cars and welding certain parts together; he needed to work out in order to feel like he was doing _something_ other then hanging around the house.

That had to be it, right?

Chance had always been the muscle of the duo, and even though Jake had taken more then his fair amount of karate classes, he just couldn't out muscle Chance. The taller kat wasn't doubting himself was he?

_Stress…he's gotta be stressing out._

But who wouldn't? They had a debt weighing on their shoulders that no kat ever should have, one that they would never be able to pay off in their lifetime. They were stuck where they were, never moving forward, never getting a look at something else or another part of life. It just seemed like Jake could never get his foot in the door, it always slammed in his face before he could reach it.

He sighed.

_I think I'm stressing out now._

Besides it wasn't like an obstacle course was a _bad_ idea, working out would give Jake a break from being stuck in the hanger everyday and night, and he had to stay in shape if he wanted to save the city. A little work-out never hurt anyone after all, and he couldn't just keep his back hunched over the drawing desk and then get back into the work field without risking an injury.

Speaking of which…

Jake stood, kicking his office chair out of the way for the time being and stretched his arms over his head, a crack in his back rewarding him for the sudden movement. He hadn't done _this _much sitting around at a desk since his days in the Enforcer academy!

"_Hey Jake_!"

He perked at the sudden crackle of his partner's voice over the radio, and grabbed his receiver off of the desk, nearly missing the set of rulers he had gotten his paws on. "What's up, Chance?"

"_Get out here and check out area Five-A! I've got something I want you to see_!"

"Affirmative." Closing the line for the moment, he glanced at the map of the junkyard he and Chance had made out using county charts (the one Bluke and Murry left was of no help of course). Whispering the location as he scanned over the now retouched map, he charted his route, and moved the radio to his mouth once more. "Headin' out."

"_Ten-four_."

He smirked as he rested the radio on the desk, and left for the junk yard. Despite the dislike for the Enforcers, they had decided as a team to keep the wording and number calls, it made everything less confusing, after all they had all ready memorized the codes so there wasn't a point in creating their own and sending everything for a mental whirlwind.

The sudden warmth of the night hit him the moment he left the house, even with the sun down the heat chose to stick around leaving the evening temperature around seventy something degrees. The sea winds had yet to show, and without any kind of breeze the fog would dry out before cooling anything down, even the suburbs and vacation houses near the ports.

Jake, however, found comfort in the fact that he didn't have to wear the armor that came with being an Enforcer. The vest, belt, and multiple layers of clothing could wear a kat out, even in the middle of winter. At least at the junkyard he could escape down to the hatch and get away from the heat for a few hours, if he wasn't working his tail off of course.

The sounds of gravel mixed with sand and a hint of dirt crunched underneath his heavy work boots, the very same ones he had come to love during his field training days, and before he knew it he had come to the sector Chance had outlined over the radio. A pile of metal sat before the larger tom, a set of monkey bars, and a few tires from what he could see but not much other then that; a pipe here, a piece of scrap metal there.

"What'da find, buddy?"

"This!" Chance gestured to the pile with his right paw. "I was only out here for a half an hour and I found the perfect set of things to start our obstacle course!"

It made sense, though the monkey bars had come from a local elementary school they could still use them and make it taller then it had been before. They had used tires to keep their footing in shape in the academy, but what would Chance do with the remainder? Build something else?

"Hey I got a great idea!" Chance hit Jake on his shoulder, a grin on his face. "You've been inside all day, let's go through a few stretches and run a bit?"

"Run?" Jake repeated, dropping his shoulders. That sounded like the _last_ thing he wanted to do. True the heat had died down from earlier in the day but that didn't mean it was Megakat's City usual of sixty degrees! It had to be around seventy something, and they didn't have any A/C lying around! Not to mention the lack of sea breeze!

"Come on, Jake!"

Oh what was the harm?

Tossing his arguments into the wind, he rotated his arms and heard a crack sing out from his shoulder. Ugh, he couldn't have gotten _that_ out of shape in the time he had been away from the Enforcers!

"The routine five miles?" he asked, turning to his best friend.

Chance cupped his chin for a moment, eyes turning skyward. "Wouldn't dream of anything else, buddy."

"Fine." Jake clenched and relaxed his paw, "Five miles, a run from here to the far side of the junkyard and back. Loser has to take out the recycling for the next two weeks."

Chance cracked his knuckles and stood beside the smaller kat. "Make it three and we've got a deal."

Jake smirked. "Deal."

Together the duo approached the pile of junk that would become their obstacle course and bent their knees. Jake glanced over at the lighter tom, and hoped that his back would be able to withstand the rush of adrenaline.

"Three," Chance began.

"Two."

"One!"

They shouted at the same time, a moment Jake would have called jinx over if he hadn't engaged himself in a battle against his partner, his other half. Even with the strain he had put his body through with paperwork and math, he wouldn't let Chance stand him up, not by a long shot anyways.

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R&R please!


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